On Thursday, IAM announced that Arrow Capital Management had agreed to purchase the unit that offered mutual funds and other product solutions

It took about nine months of seeking out a strategic partner but publicly listed Integrated Asset Management has found a buyer for its retail unit, BluMont Capital.

On Thursday, IAM announced that Arrow Capital Management had agreed to purchase the unit that offered mutual funds and other product solutions (such as a managed futures fund and another focusing on timber, agriculture and infrastructure) to retail investors primarily through the Exemplar Portfolio of funds.

The unit, whose best-known managers are Veronika Hirsch and Alex Ruus, had about $260 million of assets under management. Arrow defines itself as “an employee-owned company focused on alternative asset management and manager selection.”

“Arrow is a perfect fit,” said Stephen Johnson, the chief financial officer ay Integrated Asset Management. “It’s a perfect fit because the two firms have alternative assets. Arrow has accredited investors while ours are mutual funds. While they are within the alternative space, they are different. There is no overlap at all,” added Johnson.

Terms of the deal were not released but will be in due course.

Johnson added that IAM’s decision to seek a strategic partner (announced in its annual report that was released late last year) arose from its desire to build assets.

“We have fantastic manufacturing (capability), all the funds have great track records but we don’t have the distribution that they deserve. Arrow gives them more weight and also has better distribution that we do,” he said.

James McGovern, Arrow’s chief executive said “bringing BluMont’s stable of funds and pedigree of portfolio managers into the Arrow family greatly enhances Arrow’s mandate of providing unique, actively managed investment solutions to a wide array of investors. BluMont’s roster of investment funds is a natural extension of Arrow’s current product lineup.”

The sale, expected to wrap up during the fourth quarter, will mean that IAM will focus exclusively on its growing institutional business, which accounts for about 85% its current assets under management. The assets are largely in real estate and private debt.